Club Life of London, Vol. 1 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries — John Shaqi
Club Life of London, Vol. 1 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th CenturiesTimbs, John
History
Club Life of London, Vol. 1 (of 2): With Anecdotes of the Clubs, Coffee-Houses and Taverns of the Metropolis During the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries
Timbs, John
Clubs -- England -- London; Literary landmarks -- England -- London; London (England) -- Social life and customs
"Or chair'd at White's, amidst the doctors sit,
Teach oaths to gamesters, and to nobles wit."
The Club removed, in 1755, to the east side of St. James's-street, No.
38. The house had had previously a noble and stately tenant; for here
resided the Countess of Northumberland, widow of Algernon, tenth Earl
of Northumberland, who died 1688. "My friend Lady Suffolk, her niece
by marriage," writes Walpole, "has talked to me of her having, on that
alliance, visited her. She then lived in the house now White's, at the
upper end of St. James's-street, and was the last who kept up the
ceremonious state of the old peerage. When she went out to visit, a
footman, bareheaded, walked on each side of her coach, and a second
coach with her women attended her. I think, too, that Lady Suffolk
told me that her granddaughter-in-law, the Duchess of Somerset, never
sat down before her without leave to do so. I suppose the old Duke
Charles [the proud Duke] had imbibed a good quantity of his stately
pride in such a school." (_Letter to the Bishop of Dromore_, September
18, 1792.) This high-minded dame had published a "Volume of Prayers."
Among the Rules of the Club, every member was to pay one guinea a year
towards having a good cook; the names of all candidates were to be
deposited with Mr. Arthur or Bob [Mackreth]. In balloting, every
member was to put in his ball, and such person or persons who refuse
to comply with it, shall pay the supper reckoning of that night; and,
in 1769, it was agreed that 'every member of this Club who is in the
Billiard-Room at the time the Supper is declared upon table, shall pay
his reckoning if he does not sup at the Young Club.'
Of Colley Cibber's membership we find this odd account in Davies's
_Life of Garrick_:--"Colley, we told, had the honour to be a member of
the great Club at White's; and so I suppose might any other man who
wore good clothes and paid his money when he lost it. But on what
terms did Cibber live with this society? Why, he feasted most
sumptuously, as I have heard his friend Victor say, with an air of
triumphant exultation, with Mr. Arthur and his wife, and gave a trifle
for his dinner. After he had dined, when the Club-room door was
opened, and the Laureate was introduced, he was saluted with loud and
joyous acclamation of 'O King Coll! Come in, King Coll!' and 'Welcome,
welcome, King Colley!' And this kind of gratulation, Mr. Victor
thought, was very gracious and very honourable."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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